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Opinion

By Sean Piazza
Nearly twenty years ago, my family left with a wave of people from Western New York – but 100 years earlier, my ancestors were the product of searching for economic opportunity – and a sense of belonging – in arriving in Buffalo.
Harsh conditions in Ireland, the cause of which are now storied, were once attributed to the victims, not the perpetrators…

It was only a few weeks ago that the Politics Column chronicled New York’s glum Republicans and their moaning, groaning, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Things were not going well in their search for a challenger to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s bid for a third term in November.
At that point, State Sen. John DeFrancisco of Syracuse had emerged as front runner. Oh, they like “DeFr…

By Robert Poczik
Last year, I visited the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. It was a searing and sobering experience. I was particularly moved by the exhibit, “Daniel’s Story,” which presented the Holocaust through the experience of a Jewish child. It showed life in a ghetto, and the horrors of extermination camps in which more than one million children we…

Now is the right time to expand Metro RailI find it surprising that Rep. Brian Higgins is reversing course on support for Metro Rail expansion. With the downtown area going through a renaissance, this is exactly the time to expand the Metro Rail. It will provide access to downtown and connect the University at Buffalo campuses without having to be dependent on a car or wor…

We must keep striving for ‘more perfect union’As I while away my final years looking for a perfect world, I had to take heart in the words of contributors to Everybody’s Column in the Feb. 22 Buffalo News (George Washington’s birthday).Kudos to the writer from Buffalo on a “more perfect union,” the writer from Wheatfield on the time to discuss gun control, the writer from …

News critics’ discussion of artwork was amazingIt has happened! A scholarly, entertaining discussion just like Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg dialogued in New York 50 years ago.Jeff Miers’ and Colin Dabkowski’s interpretations of the late bedridden Matisse collages in the Jan. 25 Buffalo News were simply marvelous. Colin said it all when he said, “It doesn’t matter…

Arming our educators is definitely not the answerJust a little humor (or is it?) to add to the conversation about arming teachers. The president should rethink this idea that is quickly becoming more than a notion, through conversations across America. Sometimes teachers have “bad” days, and I don’t want parents to receive the call that their child isn’t coming home becaus…

Time for Erie County to end Water Authority patronageKudos to the Buffalo News for the Feb. 26 editorial, “Portrait of patronage.” Now, what do we do about this nest of patronage that exists in the Erie County Water Authority?County Legislator Thomas A. Loughran has introduced a measure to strike out a part of the qualifications for Water Authority executive director that …

Walk in an officer’s shoes before judging his actionsBuffalo Municipal Housing Authority tenant-elected Commissioner Leonard Williams is free to sit during the Pledge of Allegiance. Apparently his stint in the U.S. Air Force didn’t leave much of an impression on him or his allegiance to the American flag. He told The News he sat because he doesn’t approve of the methods of…

By Sam Magavern and Daniel Cadzow
The Peace Bridge is back in the news with a new proposal to expand the plaza on the Buffalo side. At the Partnership for the Public Good, we have conducted research on traffic equity in general and on the Peace Bridge in particular, and we offer these thoughts for consideration.
Traffic pollution is deadly: It causes over 50,000 pr…

Erich Krueger came up with a surefire way to get businesses to shovel their snow-clogged sidewalks. The method is very 21st century, disruptive and effective.
As reported in The News, he took his campaign online under the name “WatchfulResident,” and started a Facebook page about a month ago with photos of mainly Maple Road businesses in Amherst, near his workplace, tha…

If children have the opportunity to play, they will take it. That may mean running, jumping, skipping rope or hopping back and forth on lines drawn in chalk.
This was the state of play so many of us grew up with and somehow got lost over the decades.
Yes, video games have become ubiquitous. Few children leave home without some device to watch, play or to use to get l…

By Tom Kirkpatrick
Our recent early March storm made wonder what ever happened to my old Flexible Flyer sled. It’s likely that my mother threw it out after I left home for college. She also did the same with my baseball cards, but isn’t that what mothers are supposed to do? Now Flexible Flyer sleds of 1950s vintage are worth up to $500 on eBay and a new one goes for aro…

Students who don’t fit in need kindness, compassionAs a gun owner from the age of 14 till now, age 77, I am horrified by the school shootings, past and present. I think students and schools should look at what may help create these shooters.I’ve noticed over the years that students have created their own “class systems” and “caste systems.” The haves and the have-nots, the…